12 books in 2018

One year ago I decided to dedicate a little more time to books. I'm always eager to learn and consume stories and narratives, but is truth that other forms of media did overrule books for me. Thanks to the Goodreads Reading Challenge and the purchase of an Amazon Kindle I've recovered the love for novels.

I decided to go for a 12 books challenge, I didn't want to pressure myself but I figured that 1 book a month was a good way to start.

We Have No Idea: A Guide to the Unknown Universe

I started the year with a book about science. We Have No Idea is a great book that explains the mysteries of the universe that we still don't have answers for. It's great to see the most modern theories explained in a way that everybody can understand thanks to funny drawings.

It's one of the best fantasy worlds out there, the story captivates you really quickly. And there are so many mysteries unsolved that the only wish is for Patrick to finish already the third book!

The most interesting part is how the book starts with its own spoiler. The whole story is explained as a sort of flashback and it starts by giving you all the legends that involve the main character. Now the intriguing part is knowing how those legends came to be, and what's real and what's made up.

My name is Kvothe.

I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.

You may have heard of me.

If you like stories with a smart-ass main character you're gonna love this.

The Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum was a book that I won in a giveaway that they did on Twitter. It tells the story of the museum and the building.

It's not a type of book that I would usually buy but, since it was a surprise to win it, I gave it a chance. Furthermore, I'm a huge fan of the NHM and I've been a member since the first month I moved to London, so knowing more about the history of the building was really interesting to me.

Be a Warrior, Not a Worrier

I found myself reading it one day during our holidays in Bulgaria. Because it's just a bunch of sentences one after the other I just read it trough in a couple of days. I'm not a person that's interested in this kind of self-help books, but this one was interesting and visually appealing.

But I've to admit that the book didn't fascinate me. It reads as a D&D campaign, and I'm pretty sure I would enjoy playing it, but as a book I found myself disconnecting from it too often. I finished it and it's not a bad book, it's just not my cup of tea.

Artemis

Before finishing the year with more fantasy I decided to read Artemis by Andy Weir. You may know this author thanks to The Martian. As many of you, I haven't read the book but enjoyed the film so much. In fact I've always heart so many good things about his science fiction writing that I decided to give Artemis a chance, specially since it won so many awards the year of its release.

And I have to admit that I'm a little disappointed. The book is really interesting and the hard sci-fi is very well done. But after the book spends tons of pages specifying the smaller detail about a scene to make me believe that is real and plausible... I lose interest. Get to the point and show me the action! Seriously, I feel like the book could have been cut in half and it would have been much better. I suspect that this is the reason why making a movie of it wouldn't be that hard.

I'm pretty sure that Artemis will be another hit on the big screen, but I found that I didn't enjoy this kind of sci-fi.

Guardianes de la Ciudadela Series

After finishing The Kingkiller Chronicle Series I was eager for more. I found that one of my favourite authors from a younger age has been really prolific and is working currently in a new series. Laura Gallego García is a Spanish fantasy author of that captivated my imagination with 'Memories of Idhún'.

When I saw she just released a book called El bestiario de Axlin and that it was the first part of a new trilogy I was immediately intrigued. This book has been one of the books that has received my full attention the quickest. The begging of the book directly presents this grim world where humans are isolated and constantly attacked by monsters. The questions immediately arise, and the history just gets better and better.

When I finished the first one I just wanted more. Luckily for me I didn't have to wait much as the second part, El secreto de Xein, was released later in the year. (Imagine if other authors were so prolific as her!) So after being disappointed by sci-fi I went back to fantasy to see what more secrets the citadel had to offer.

This was the last book of the year for me and it didn't disappoint. I'm waiting already for the third instalment of the series and luckily for me Laura doesn't waste her time and is gonna be released next March.

More in 2019

This new year I pretend to read more. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna stick to fantasy because that's what I enjoy. I know that many of you prefer boring self-teaching books that can improve your live but I do that with other media. Books need to translate me to another world, not be just a bunch of words put in order to try to sell books.

I will read La misión de Rox as soon as it's relesed to finish with this series. But meanwhile I think is time to take a challenge that I've been wanting to take for a while now: enter the world of Brandon Sanderson's books and other well known authors.